Theologian Thursday: Tertullian (c. 160- c. 225)

Though never canonized in the Church (perhaps due to his brief foray into Montanism), Tertullian remains one of the most important early Church Fathers.

Tertullian may not have been the first to use the word, but he was the first to present a really fleshed-out idea of Trinity--using the Latin personae and substantia. His teaching of the three Persons' numerical distinction but substantive sameness in divinity is Nicene--a hundred years before the creation of the creed. However, it seems he also believed that before Creation there was no Son, as there was no necessity for the Word. This is what we call the Arian heresy.

Anyway, Tertullian experienced Christianity as a religion more of the heart than of the brain, and in opposition to Justin Martyr and philosophy famously said, "What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?"

What you should read:

• De Anima
• The Apology

Ratings:

(To read more about my Theologian Rating System, click HERE)
Gender Equality:
Tertullian basically hated Eve, because sin is apparently all her fault, and by extension all other women. He was all about policing their clothing (i.e. virgins should be veiled until they're married) and relationships (widows are sinning if they remarry). Apparently he didn't have much sway in this area though, which is probably a good thing.
Environmental Sensibility:
Tertullian was much more focused on the inner-life of the Christian, and said very little (or nothing) about caring for the environment.
Heretical Tendencies:

Montanism is now considered a heresy, even though many great Christians--including Augustine and current charismatic movements--have dabbled in it. Tertullian did not remain a Montanist, but it definitely had an effect on his thinking.

General Badassery: 

Tertullian did a lot and wrote a lot, but not much is known of his life in general, so it's hard to say. St. Jerome wrote that Tertullian served in the African army and lived to be super old, but neither of those claims has been found true.

"He who lives only to benefit himself confers on the world a benefit when he dies."

Theologian Thursday: Banned Books edition

It's unfortunately unsurprising that many challenges and bannings of books have been headed up by the Church--either as an institution itself or by its members.

In fact, from 1557-1966, the Roman Catholic Church had an index of prohibited books, which was a list of books and authors that members were restricted from reading in order to "protect" them from a corruption of their faith.

Quite a few big names made it in the index, theologian and otherwise, including some theologians I've profiled on this blog!

Here's a bit of an abridged list of highlights, adapted from a page on Fordham University's website.

• Abelard
• Calvin
• Descartes
• Erasmus
• Hobbes
• Hugo
• Kant
• Locke
• Rousseau
• Sartre
• Voltaire

Luckily, the Church no longer bans books in an official capacity, but that is a small boon when you consider how often Christians are entangled in book banning crusades even today. While I can understand the value of being a community set apart, that is no excuse for denying people their freedoms.

It all comes back to that simplest of arguments: If you don't like a book, don't read it.

You can't tell people how to read, how to think, or how to live.

Theologian Thursday: Peter Abelard (1079 - 1142)

Abelard and Heloise

Peter Abelard was one of the great philosopher-theologians.

Abelard studied the dialectic form of philosophy and was one of the first nominalists, which means he did not believe in universals--things like "love" or "beauty" are only words, not real things. These ideas, along with his tweaking of Boethius's account of identity, clearly influenced how Abelard thought about God, and especially the Trinity--the three Persons are one concrete thing (God), and yet have three distinct definitions.

Besides his philosophy, Abelard is well-known for his relationship with his patron's niece, Heloise, who was also a nun. You may know of their affair from Alexander Pope's poem "Eloisa to Abelard," (from which the movie Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind takes its name) or various other accounts. Heloise herself was quite learned, and though their romance was tragic--she was sent away by her uncle when he found out about them, so their affair continued in secret and through letters until she became pregnant and Abelard sent her away for good... and then her uncle had Abelard castrated--it has lived on through legend in art and literature. If you'd like to read a more detailed account than I can describe here, check out this stellar blog post.


What you should read:

• Sic et Non
• Theologia christiana

Ratings:(To read more about my rating system, click HERE.)
Gender Equality: 
Though I do not doubt that Abelard's love for Heloise was true, somehow I have a hard time believing that he really respected her or considered her, you know, a person, given his banishment of her once he got her pregnant (even if it was "for her own good").
Environmental Sensibility: 
With the middle ages, it's kind of hard to say. Love for creation was certainly not of the utmost importance to Abelard--he was certainly more concerned with pursuits of the mind.
Heretical Tendencies: 
Because of his use of dialectic philosophy, and his appreciation for mystery and open-ended questions without solid dogmatic answers, he was often accused of heresy. He was tried by Bernard of Clairvaux, who was a mystic and therefore had a lot of issues with Abelard's use of rationality with religion.
General Badassery: 
Dude was super smart, had a pretty badass romance, and stood up to trials of heresy. Pretty cool, but not amazingly so.

"The key to wisdom is this - constant and frequent questioning, for by doubting we are led to question and by questioning we arrive at the truth."

Theologian Thursday: St. Teresa of Avila (1515-1582)

Teresa of Avila was a Spanish Catholic mystic and Carmelite nun. She spent a lot of time in ascetic seclusion, in prayer, contemplation, and writing. She took an oath of poverty and opened many convents in Spain.

Teresa actually has a lot of similarities to Julian of Norwich.

She went through quite a few serious illnesses, and also experienced many visions of Jesus and the Virgin Mary. Teresa went on to develop a kind of prayer practice to engage these visions and become spiritually closer to God.

What you should read:

• Her autobiography
• Camino de perfección 

Ratings:(To read more about my rating system, click HERE.)
Gender Equality: 
Although the patriarchy engrained in her through society often made her question her worth as a woman, she did much important work, even taking a leading role in training John of the Cross and Anthony of Jesus in opening the Carmelite Brethren.
Environmental Sensibility: 
As mystics often do, Teresa of Avila found God in nature, and often looked to nature to inspire and inform her spiritual prayers and practices. Therefore, I believe she cared for the environment as God's creation and as a conduit of divine revelation.
Heretical Tendencies: 
As a nun and leader of convents, she was pretty soundly grounded in orthodox belief, even if her visions and mysticism are not always accepted as kosher.
General Badassery: 
While she did battle sickness and have some crazy visions, most of Teresa's life is marked by simple asceticism, hard work, and devotion to her convents. Admirable, certainly, but perhaps not entirely badass.

"Christ has no body now, but yours.

No hands, no feet on earth, but yours.

Yours are the eyes through which

Christ looks compassion into the world.

Yours are the feet

with which Christ walks to do good.

Yours are the hands

with which Christ blesses the world." 

Theologian Thursday: Simone Weil (1909-1943)

Simone Weil was a French anarchist and political activist turned Catholic mystic. She was born to an affluent Jewish family in Paris, and despite her wealthy upbringing devoted her life to living among and fighting for the working class. One story tells how, when she was five years old, she refused to eat sugar in solidarity with the French soldiers, who had none on the battlefields of WWI.

Her Jewish heritage (which she, in many ways, rejected), combined with her study of philosophy and interest in anarcho-communism, makes for an interesting theology.

Weil's idea of creation is especially interesting: since God is perfect fullness, creation occurs when God withdraws--to make room, in a way, for creation to exist--and in this way humanity is separated from God, not necessarily as a result of willful sin. The incarnation of Jesus Christ bridges this gap, and in him God and humanity are reconciled.

What you should read:

• Gravity and Grace
• Oppression and Liberty

Ratings:

(To read more about my Theologian Rating System, click HERE)
Gender Equality:
Simone Weil pursued academic, activist, and even military life. The fact that she was a woman did not hinder her from doing what she wanted and fighting for what she believed in.
Environmental Sensibility:
With her emphasis on revolution and class equality, I think Weil had some sense of care for the environment. However, her belief in an inherently "evil" (or, separate from God) creation may imply something different.
Heretical Tendencies: 

Simone Weil has been accused of being an antisemitic Marcionite due to her basic rejection of the Hebrew Bible. Additionally, her creation theology is not exactly orthodox, and her ecclesiology was definitely lacking.

General Badassery: 
From fighting in the Spanish American War, to her various involvements with Marxists, anarchists, and other political activists, as well as teaching and writing, Simone Weil was always up to something and accomplished much in  her short 34 years.

"The mysteries of faith are degraded if they are made into an object of affirmation and negation, when in reality they should be an object of contemplation."

Theologian Thursday: Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945)

This is the last post in my Month of Martyrs series. I hope you enjoyed it!

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was born in Germany to a prominent family--his mother was a countess and his father was a well-known neurologist. He was one of eight children, and he was actually a twin!

When he was 17, Bonhoeffer began studying theology at Tubingen University, and a year later entered the University of Berlin. This began his struggle between the liberal theology popular at the time (and taught by his professors, which included Harnack--who at one point was the director of the Royal Library in Berlin) and the neo-orthodoxy espoused by Karl Barth, to which he had taken a liking.

Bonhoeffer also studied at Union Theological Seminary in New York, and did much work with churches in Harlem. This created in him a deep, abiding love for African American hymns and spirituals.

After various teaching and ministering positions around Europe, when the Nazis came to power in 1933, he became an immediate enemy of the regime, speaking out against Hitler's grab for power, the persecution of the Jews, and the Nazis' effect on the German church.

Bonhoeffer became an integral part of the Confessing Church, and was eventually barred from teaching in German universities or print or publish anything. The Confessing Church was also made illegal in Germany, and many of its pastors were imprisoned. He then began the underground Finkenwalde Seminary, to continue teaching in resistance to the Nazis.

He joined the Abwehr, which was a German intelligence organization that developed multiple plots to assassinate Hitler. His involvement in the organization and their failed assassination attempts is what eventually got him arrested, and after two years of imprisonment he was hanged on April 9 1945 at Flossenburg concentration camp.

Bonhoeffer's prophetic voice and focus on a practical, worldly theology and his emphasis on Christians (of all kinds) living out the gospel of the cross of Christ is what makes him still relevant today. Furthermore, his intolerance for injustice and his bravery in the face of outright evil is something we can all admire.

If you're interested in learning more, I highly recommend the documentary Bonhoeffer. It's on Netflix instant stream!

What you should read:

• The Cost of Discipleship
• Letters & Papers from Prison

Ratings:

(To read more about my Theologian Rating System, click HERE)
Gender Equality:
Bonhoeffer taught both men and women at Finkenwalde Seminary, and I'm sure he felt that women had just as much business living the Christian life and following the way of Jesus than men.
Environmental Sensibility:
I think with the influence of liberal theology, Bonhoeffer had a fairly positive notion of the redemption of all creation.
Heretical Tendencies: 

Even though the German "Church" anathemized Bonhoeffer and the rest of the Confessing Church, I think it's pretty clear who the real heretics were.

General Badassery: 
It's hard to do justice to how completely badass Dietrich Bonhoeffer is. He is a true hero of the faith and gave his life resisting real evil in the world.

“We are not to simply bandage the wounds of victims beneath the wheels of injustice, we are to drive a spoke into the wheel itself.” 

Theologian Thursday: Joan of Arc (c1412-1431)

This is the fourth post in my Month of Martyrs series. Stay tuned for the last post next week!


To be honest, most of my previous knowledge about Joan of Arc was from that episode of Wishbone.

 

Don't judge. You know what I'm talking about.

But really, even though she wasn't exactly a theologian, she was a martyr, and she's a saint in the Roman Catholic Church, and I think her story is important for a number of reasons.

The gist of Joan of Arc's history is that she was born when the French were losing the Hundred Years' War, she received a vision when she was about 13 of Saints Margaret, Catherine, and Michael, who told her that God said to get the English out of France, so despite the fact that she was a girl of rather low standing, she made it into the army, rallied the troops (even captured a fortress by herself), and ultimately increased the morale of the French enough for them eventually to win the war (20 years after her death). She was captured by the Burgudians, purchased from them by the English, and subsequently tried for heresy and burned alive at the stake.

Here's why I think Joan of Arc is interesting: While I admire her determination in the face of adversity and the fact that she did what she thought was right despite the men in charge not taking her seriously, she essentially turned what was a war born of royal family drama into a holy war.

Of course, as a pacifist, I hate the whole idea of "holy war." BUT it's interesting to me that her being so sure that God wanted the French to win was what gave her army the passion it needed to actually be victorious. AND this idea is still prevalent today--everyone thinks God is on their side.

Ratings:
(To read more about my Theologian Rating System, click HERE)
Gender Equality:
Joan of Arc clearly did not let the fact that she was a woman get in the way of her doing what she needed to do. Even though she was at times purposefully left out of important military meetings and rarely taken seriously (especially at the beginning of her involvement in the war), she went ahead with whatever she wanted, which was usually smarter than what the men had planned. She went as far as to keep her hair cut short and dress in men's clothing in order to quit being sexually objectified (this even ended up being part of her heresy charge).
Environmental Sensibility:
Can I skip this one today? She supposedly hung out in the forest around a "Fairy Tree" as a child. So I guess she liked nature OK...?
Heretical Tendencies:

She was tried as a heretic in England, but the heresy she was charged for is based mostly on her experiences of voices and visions, but I'm pretty sure there were English people having visions that weren't tried as heretics. My feeling is that by "heretic" they meant "French patriot."

General Badassery:
I don't think this is really a surprise. Joan of Arc was a badass, plain and simple. When she was imprisoned by the Burgundians, she jumped out of a 70 foot tower to escape. She did her thing. HBIC for sure.

"I am not afraid... I was born to do this."